Base-ball mitt.



J. HARTMAN'.

BASE BALL MITT APPIJIUATION FILED AUG.- 13, 1908.

Patented May 17, 1910.

INVENTOR QuQ? [74447 ATTORNEYE \MITNEEEEE a 6 W'- s'ra S ATENT @FFI@E.

JOSEPH HARTMAN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WALTER T. STALL, 0FBROOK- ION, MASSACHUSETTS, AND CHARLES H. DEAN, OF CHICAGQ, ILLINOIS.

BASE-BALL MITT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOsEPI-I I-IARTMAN, of Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Base'Ball Mitts, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to pads for mitts used by baseball catchers, thepad to which my invention relates being formed for insertion in aleather casing forming the exterior or skin of the mitt, the pad beingformed to fill the leather casing so that the pad and casing togetherconstitute an operative mitt having a depression or pocket in the frontor palm side adapted to facilitate the retention of a ball striking themitt.

The invention has for its object to provide certain improvements in theconstruction of the pad whereby a durable, and at the same time, asufficiently deep and flexible ball-engaging pocket is formed.

The invention consists in the improvements which I will now proceed todescribe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification,-Figure 1 represents a view of the front or palm side of amitt pad embodying my invention. Fig.

2 represents a view of the opposite side of the pad. Fig. 8 represents asection on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

My improved pad comprises a single facing piece a of fibrous, flexiblematerial, preferably felt, the margin of said piece being shaped toconform to the marginal portions of the palm and thumb of the usual skinor casing in which the pad is inclosed. The margin of the facing pieceis offset outwardly, or toward the palm side, to form a ridge 12 havinga convex outer side. The said facing piece is also offset to form aconcavo-convex central portion 18 the palm side of which is dished, andpresents a concave outer side which is surrounded by the ridge 12,excepting at the gap between the palm and thumb portions, the said ridge12 and depression 13 collectively forming a ball-engaging pocket which,as shown in Fig. 3, is of considerable depth, and is inclined inwardlyfrom the highest portion of the ridge to the central portion of thedepression.

The described form of the facing piece is Specification of LettersPatent.

Application filed August 13, 1908.

Patented May 17, 1910?. Serial No. 448,312.

preserved and made permanent by the following means, namely: first, acloth backing 1 1, the outer edge of which .is secured by stitches 15 tothe outer edge of the ridge 12, and the inner edge of which is securedby stitches 16 to the inner edge or portion of the ridge, and secondly,the cushion 17 which may be composed of loose hair or other fibrousmaterial compressed closely in the pocket formed by the ridge 12 and thecloth backing 14: so as to preserve the margin of the felt body in theconvex form described. The cushion 17 is under sufficient compression tomaintain the ridge 12 and backing 14: in a tense condition, and thecentral portion 13 in concavoconvex form the backing supporting thecushion, which, in turn, supports the ridge, so that the latter, whileflexibly supported, is permanently maintained in the desiredpredetermined shape.

In assembling the described parts, provision is made for a suitablefullness of the portion of the facing piece which constitutes thedepression 13, so that said depression has the dished form representedin Fig. 3.

The impact of the ball against the mitt is supported in part by thedepression 13, and in part by the ridge 12, a considerable outward orradial pressure being exerted against the ridge by the ball when itstrikes the mitt. Owing to the fact that the ridge is integral with thedepression, there is no liability of permanent outward displacement ofthe ridge by the radial pressure of the ball against it, the tensilestrength of the material composing the facing piece being utilized toprevent such stretching of the facing piece as would be required tocause a permanent outward displacement of any part of the ridge.

I prefer to make the facing piece from a single sheet of felt ofsuitable thickness. If desired, however, the facing piece may be made ofany suitably flexible fibrous material, such as layers of clothsuperimposed upon each other, and united by quilting stitches. In anycase, my aim is to provide a facing piece which constitutes a ridge anda depression, the tensile strength of the facing piece being utilized toprevent outward displacement of the outer portion of the ridge y thepressure of the ball against it. Provision is thus made for preservingthe desired predetermined form of the inner portion of the ridge whichforms the marginal portion'of the pocket. If the material forming theinner portion of the ridge were free to be displaced outwardly, therewould be liability of the enlargement of the margin of the pocket by theoutward pressure of the ball against it. This liability does not existin my improved pad.

Owing to the fact that there are two lines of stitching l5 and 16 whichserve to pull the facing piece against the pressure caused by thefilling 17, the marginal portion of the facing piece is distorted out ofthe plane of the central portion of the facing piece. The structure ofthe pad therefore, including the backing ll and the filling and the twolines of stitches, results in giving and preserving a form of the padwhich presents a palm side or surface of a continuous single piecehaving a dished or concaved central portion and a surrounding marginalridge, which depression and marginal portion meet in a gradual and easycurve which will avoid any ha bility of the inner portion of the ridgebeing displaced outwardly by the impact of a ball.

I claim:

A mitt pad comprising a single facing piece of fibrous flexible materialforming the entire front side of the pad, and having its margin offsetoutwardly to form a ridge, and its central portion offset inwardly anddished to form a concave depression, said ridge and depressionconstituting a pocket on the front of the pad, and means for making thesaid ridge and depression permanent, said means including a clothbacking stitched at its inner and outer edges to the inner and outeredges of the ridge, and a cushion confined between said backing andridge, the tensile strength of the material of the facing piece beingutilized to prevent distortion of the margin of the pocket.

In testimony whereof I have aiiixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

JOSEPH HARTMAN.

lVitnesses CLARENCE B. ALDRICH, CHARLES E. JOHNSON.

